Suits accuse company of overstating alcohol content

Four class-action suits — originating in San Francisco, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Camden — all accuse the firm of manipulating the brewing process to produce more cans of beer with a lower alcohol content, reports Courthouse News Service.

According to the initial court filings, Anheuser-Busch “adds extra water to its finished products to produce malt beverages that consistently have significantly lower alcohol content than the percentage displayed on its labels. By doing so, AB is able to produce a significantly higher number of units of beer from the same starting batch of ingredients.”

In the suits, the plaintiffs allege that Budweiser, Bud Light Platinum, Michelob and Natural Ice, among others, are all subject to the mislabeling. The lawsuit asks that Anheuser-Busch be prevented by the courts from the stated practices and mislabeling.